Little Monster
by angelslaugh
Summary: In one world, soulmarks are words. In another, it's a countdown. Naruto doesn't like what her words say. Mukuro dreams of her. Fem Naru/Mukuro
1. Chapter 1

_Why, hello there, little monster._

She imagines it to be a face in the crowd that hunts her every Kyuubi festival. It's not like she doesn't know _why_ anymore. Kurama can't bring himself to hate her because she's stuck, after all, in the same situation he is.

Problem is, her soulmark is indigo. She doesn't know what _indigo_ means, because it's not a color for soulmarks. Something in her hides it, because it's one of the many things that mark her as different.

So, she's smart. She skips and causes trouble every time a teacher is rumored to be cataloging soulmarks, because there's one way to tell a body is really a body.

What their soulmarks say.

So she hides it, and when Iruka stops her, insisting she stay because somehow he knows that she's skipped her previous teachers' inspections when she blurts out the first lie she could think of.

"I don't _have_ a soulmark!"

All the blood drains from her face, as she's practiced before. The room goes silent.

Whispers start to circulate, and Naruto knows that the Sandaime knows she has a soulmark. It's probably marked somewhere in his files, tucked away.

But for the adults, she knew the hunting thing was going to get worse.

It's not the best situation for her and she knows it.

Honestly, if her soulmate said _anything_ else to her, it would have been better.

Waaay better. Having ' _why hello there, little monster'_ written in elegant script on her lower back isn't something _romantic,_ it's plain _mean._

~:~

Rokudo Mukuro has a soul-clock. It's a clock that, when it counts down to zero, you meet your soulmate. Chikusa and Ken have them, one for each other; they'd known since they'd touched that they were soulmates.

His is black. In the mafia, black meant civilian, and that meant he was going to have a _civilian_ soulmate.

(No, thanks.)

He dreams, sometimes; he's lived different lives and there's one thing that's there. A partner.

Whether he's a plant or an insect (he doesn't like to think of _that_ life) or a woman, there's always someone (thing, he supposes, considering he was a plant. And an insect, at one point!) there. Once, they met and his other half died violently. Once, his other half had to watch him die.

(He was pretty sure they died together as plants, so.)

He has a general sense, now, of his other half. Maybe they didn't have the same sense; he has the feeling his other half is an old-soul, a soul that, while attracted to his world, was not a part of his world.

No. The old soul belonged to another world in a constant battle of life-and-death.

Mukuro feels a tug on that sense one October night.

(He only knows it's October because of the leaves.)

The ten-year-old closes his eyes, and his illusionary self appears to her side.

She's being chased by a mob. A _mob._

His Path eye flares as his Flames flare as well. He grabs his other half's arm and she lets out a gasp of pure terror. Maybe because he's holding his trident, he doesn't really know. But his soul-clock heats up the moment he touches her, and he tries to search for the right words as the words of the mob behind him ring.

To the mob's eyes, the two vanish.

But in reality, they're in the same spot, the blue-eyed girl staring at him in pure fear.

"Why, hello there, little monster," he says in what is supposed to be a comforting voice.

He doesn't have much of a comforting aura, apparently, because the girl's terror ratchets up.

"My soulmate is a _creep!"_

She attempts to yank her arm out of Mukuro's hold.

"If you leave they're going to attempt to hurt you again," he tells her, this time leaving out the attempted comforting. He can't do it, apparently.

"Yeah? And what're _you_ gonna do?" There was that fear again.

" _Not_ hurt you," Mukuro promises. "Where do you live?"

The girl stares at him before wrenching her hand out of his.

Before he can call her back, she's vanishing into shadows.

Mukuro follows her as best as he can, only catching glimpses of her at a time. She lives in an apartment, and he can see a door shut.

He closes his eyes and materializes in the apartment, ready to open his mouth and make excuses to her parents/siblings, only to fall silent completely to stare at her.

She's clearly an orphan, judging by the general messy state of the apartment. Why she's living alone is also clear, given the fact a mob nearly ran her down.

She's making tea, two cups of it.

"Please take your shoes off," she requests in a small voice. He sees the way her hand shakes and realizes she's still scared of him.

He lets the trident fade into illusion. He's stuck here until his Flames manifest fully again; he should make the best of it.

"Am I your soulmate?" she asks, peeking up at him shyly.

He nods. "I don't live in this world," he explains, revealing his clock. "When you touch your soulmate, it warms and ends the clock."

Her eyes widen. She looks fascinated by his world.

"So how long have you been living here?" Mukuro asks.

"Since I turned six," she shrugs. "The civilian Academy has ninja sign-ups after first grade."

"This is a world of ninja?" he wonders, eyeing her bright orange clothing.

She nods, ducking her head shyly. "Yes," she says quietly. "It's a world of ninja."

~:~

Naruto is still scared of Mukuro, but that fear is less than her fear of ninja finding him here. It's his chakra signature that makes her worried, so she lets her chakra settle around her.

And freezes.

Because her chakra automatically recognizes people around fifteen feet (and growing.)

It doesn't register Mukuro's presence.

"I can't feel you," she says, brave enough to touch him. He's real.

She tries to read an energy off of him.

 _Deception,_ she reads. _Indigo. Chocolate. Truth._

He did not lie to her.

He hesitates, then smiles a bit ruefully. It's still kinda creepy.

"It's because of this," he admits, holding out his hand. An indigo flame ignites in his palm. "They're called Soul Flames. Or just Flames. There's a bunch of Flame types out there. I'm a Mist Flame in my world. Illusionist."

"Oh," Naruto says, inwardly… Kind of disappointed.

"I can also possess people by scratching them with my trident."

Naruto's eyes widen. "A-are you gonna do that to me?"

"To get you to my world, maybe," he says firmly.

Naruto stills.

"What?" she doesn't dare to hope. "W-what did you say?" she asks again, staring straight up into the older boy's mismatched eyes.

He looks unsure, all of a sudden. "T-to get you to my world?" he suggests timidly.

Naruto doubts Mukuro is unsure about a lot of things. Maybe a bit stressed, because he does seem tired, but unsure? No.

Mukuro isn't that type of person, she decides.

"I'd like that," she whispers, feeling choked. She clears her throat, not wanting to cry in front of her soulmate, and instead walks over to the couch. Mukuro follows her, looking around interestedly.

"How old are you?" Mukuro asks suddenly.

"Eight," she replies absentmindedly, grabbing a few towels off the floor.

"And you've been living on your own for two years?"

"About," she responds. "And most people don't think I have a soulmate, either."

She pauses for a moment, then shows her back to Mukuro. He makes a noise of assent. "That's my writing," he says. "Is color in your soulmarks normal?"

She shakes her head, and hesitates.

Mukuro withdraws his hand.

"What's wrong?"

She turns to him. "There's something you need to know."

She tells him.

There's a terrifying expression on his face, an expression of such rage it makes her shrink a little after she tells him about Kurama (not his name, not until Kurama knows he can be trusted).

He quickly reassures her. "It's not you," he promises. "It's just… Something similar happened to me." He hesitates, and Naruto forces a smile.

"C'mon, I told _you_ my darkest little secret," she says to him lightly. "You can tell me yours."

 _It's not like I can judge._

He tells her. About being experimented on, gaining the Six Paths in his eye. About him meeting her in different lives (in all of them, he reveals, _but in some of them you died and some of them I died and one we both died._ ). About being an insect.

( _What type of insect?_

 _I think it was a spider. Like, you were a black spider and I… think I ate you,_ he admits uncomfortably at that moment.

Naruto stares at him for a moment. _Mukuro, you're stupid._ His eyes darken in either anger or annoyance, but Naruto breaks out into a smile. _Spiders aren't insects, you idiot. They're arachids._

 _-Nids,_ he corrects her absently. _ArachNIDS.)_

She really can't judge him, after all, so her smile deepens.

The night lengthens. Both of them fall asleep on each other like children do, because it's late and they don't really have much to talk about.


	2. Chapter 2

Mukuro gets up early, deciding to cook. Naruto has plenty of rice and eggs – and there's a threatening note to Mukuro. Mukuro just sighs in annoyance.

When Naruto gets up off the couch, she's delighted at the amount of food on the table and Mukuro smiles, inwardly grateful Naruto keeps easy-to-follow instructions in her cupboard.

"We're going shopping," he announces, eyes distastefully going over her orange jumpsuit.

"I can outrun most ANBU in this jumpsuit!" she claims with a scowl.

"I think _that_ color of orange is a bit eye-searing," he says bluntly. "Maybe you should buy something more discreet."

He pauses as there's a polite knock on the door.

Naruto swallows.

"Oh, that's just Jiji," she says, setting her fork down. "He's the Hokage."

Mukuro is still tense. It'll take a bit longer to recover more of his Flames to go home. He had to be careful on what he says.

An elderly man enters after Naruto keeps eating.

"Naru-kun!"

"In the kitchen, jiji!"

An elderly man enters the kitchen, his eyes widening with surprise at the cleanliness. Obviously, Naruto really didn't make an effort to keep her place clean.

"Who's this?" The Hokage blinks at Mukuro. Mukuro glanced to Naruto, whose blue eyes were perfectly calm.

"He's my soulmate from another world," she says, as though that makes perfect sense.

"Oh," the older man says, with surprise. "Did he really say such awful words to you?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Naruto says with a pout. "And he's creepy when he tries to be comforting. But he cooks well!"

The old man sweatdrops as Naruto digs in. Mukuro grimaces. He'd just have to deal with her table manners (or lack thereof).

"Right." The old man nods. "I was just making sure everything was alright. This is the tenth time you've missed a day at the Academy. Would your friend be interested in going?"

"No," Mukuro says before Naruto could speak. "My _soulmate_ and I are going shopping."

"Yeah…" Naruto ducks her head. "May I have more ryo, jiji? Just to shop for some variety in clothes."

"Of course!" The old man smiles, pulling an envelope out of nowhere. "Enjoy yourselves!"

He vanishes in a puff of smoke.

Naruto lights up. "Give me like ten minutes!" she exclaims happily, dashing out of her chair.

~:~

Once disguised, Mukuro and Naruto walk into a shop, looking for decent clothes. Mukuro is drawn to the darker clothes, the clothes made more for someone older than she is right now. She is clearly uncomfortable in the women's section of the shop, but Mukuro persists.

He makes a snap decision when she's buying stuff for when she becomes an actual shinobi. He doesn't want her to see it yet but he'll give it to her when she comes to his world. Mukuro concentrates, and before anyone sees him the dark colored set seems to vanish.

It will suit her in the future. In his world of darkness, it _must_ suit the one destined to be his.

~:~

They visit other shops. Naruto, while slightly uncomfortable changing into regular shorts and a shirt, is immediately satisfied. Mukuro may have been right in one regard – she was dying of heat and hadn't even known it until she put on the summer-esque clothes!

She walks through the market, Mukuro using her money to buy her fruit and everything; with the hairdo she went with, everyone thinks they're siblings.

(She dyes her hair. It'll only last for a day, but even so.)

When they go back to her apartment, Mukuro brings up them leaving again.

"Right now, I don't have the power," he tells her. "But I will, I promise. If you let me scratch you with my trident, I _swear_ on my Flames I won't try to harm you, or ask you do to anything you won't like."

His eyes are honest.

Naruto hesitates as he materializes his trident.

"Alright," she says after a moment. "But no possessing me until you take me… home."

Home isn't a word she uses lightly. But she uses it because already Mukuro represents everything she _wants_ a home to be.

"You'll be safe in my world," he promises to her.

~"~

She leaves the next morning, because she really can't afford to skip another day. Iruka would be mad.

She hates disappointing Iruka; but she hates it when people tease her, as though she _needs_ the reminder she doesn't have a mother or father.

It's Sakura who snidely asks, as people laugh at her clothes – because Naruto knows they aren't matching, she picked them out for practicality in the hot weather – "Your mother pick that out?"

Naruto feels anger rage through her, and it's not just _her._ It's Kurama, snarling on Kushina's behalf.

Naruto bottles that rage.

Naruto smiles as insincerely as possible. "Why, yes, Sakura-chan! I went to her grave with about three different outfits this morning and asked, 'hey, kaa-san, what should I wear?' But, you know, instead of _her_ ghost coming outta her grave, my dead father's did! _Gasp!"_

Sakura recoils, and half the class is silenced by Naruto's strange, out-of-character response.

Even more so by the blatant admission that she was an orphan.

Kurama is silent, and Naruto wonders for a moment if he's enraged at her flippancy.

She smiles amicably, and then says, in a super cheerful voice, "I'm guessing Tou-san doesn't have much of a fashion sense, -ttebayo, because he chose this one."

She smiles again, and turns.

Sasuke is staring at her, his face wiped of the darkness that had crowded it.

She swallows, being instantly reminded that Sasuke was a newly made orphan.

~:~

" _Tadaima!"_ She calls, her heart stuttering as she hears no response.

" _Okaeri,"_ Mukuro says with a smile. Naruto wonders for a fleeting moment how he knows her language, then it's pushed aside. She finds she doesn't really give a damn right now. Mukuro's smile drops. "Naruto, I have bad news." He hesitates.

"You have to leave?" Naruto guesses.

Mukuro nods. "I'm sorry," he says, and in his eyes she sees he truly is. "I have to leave tomorrow morning at the latest," he says.

Naruto nods. "You've seen quite a bit of my world. Tell me of yours!"

Mukuro grins shyly and begins to speak.

~:~

 _Naruto,_

 _I had to leave. I left this plant for you. Keep it alive. I promise on my Flames I'll come back for you as soon as I can._

 _Mukuro_

~:~

Mukuro looks at Ken and Chikusa.

"Don't ask me what I'm doing," he orders as he put the clothes he'd stolen for Naruto in a box.

He'd remember, he promises himself. _He'll remember._


	3. Chapter 3

She tells Iruka and Kakashi when she's injured and they walk in on her; it's the _indigo_ part of her soulmark that catches their attention.

"Why didn't you say so?" Iruka wonders.

Naruto forces a smile. "Because it's _indigo,_ sensei. _Nobody_ has indigo."

"Right," Kakashi nods.

His soulmark is probably under all those layers; Naruto knows Iruka-sensei's talks about a dolphin for some reason. The two make a good match, she thinks, but still wonders what Kakashi-sensei's says.

She doesn't ask. She knows, even being an orphan, it's an unspoken rule. You don't pry into other peoples' soulmarks – it's rude. When one does, it's like being naked under a streetlamp.

You just don't ask.

~:~

"-my soulmate," Sakura laughs. "Not Sasuke."

Naruto tunes back into the conversation. It's been a long time since she'd actively gotten involved in a soulmate conversation. Sakura speaks of a revelation that it's Sai who's her soulmate, not Sasuke; Sai had difficulties admitting he has words.

After all, ROOT ANBU aren't supposed to have words.

Sakura turns to Naruto.

"What about you, Naruto? I know in the Academy you said you didn't, but…"

"I lied," Naruto says without a shred of embarrassment. "His name is Mukuro, and he left me."

There's a silence. That's a harsh reality. It hurts almost physically when they leave their soulmate.

"He's from another world," Naruto goes on. "And he promised to come back, but he hasn't."

There's a lump in her throat, and she swallows it back. It's been eleven years since then.

Eleven years of having to deal with the ridicule even knowing that she _does_ have a soulmate. She just doesn't know when he's coming back for her.

(she's nineteen, and Mukuro still hasn't come back for her.)

(did he forget her?)

She picks up the sake dish and drinks the sake down amid the silence, trying to drink past the lump in her throat.

They drank and try to forget or celebrate, when the bar door opens and there's a loud commotion.

"You can't bring weapons in here!"

"I'm coming for someone," a familiar voice says. It's the voice that makes her freeze, makes her sniff the air and reach out with her chakra.

 _Chocolate, fire, smoke, deception._ It certainly smells like him.

Naruto drops her sake dish and stands, turning and sobering quite fast. She puts her false arm on the bar top, and turns.

Mukuro stands there, looking older and far more weary. He wears his hair in a long, high ponytail.

Naruto's suddenly glad she decided not to cut her hair. Her hair was almost as long as his, and if she's honest she's a tad envious.

"You!" She lets her eyes turn red because despite the happiness she feels at the moment she _burns_ with rage at him. _"You forgot about me!"_

He winces. He knows, he has to know, that he's in deep, deep shit right now.

~:~

Mukuro's mark burns at the Varia battle when he's fifteen years old. It hurts, and the blaze of pain went higher and higher until something snapped.

He always reassures himself that she's okay because he can feel her, but now, looking for that bond while Chrome is struggling to keep up with Mammon of the Varia, he doesn't find it.

He knows, inwardly. He knows that she's not there, that the silence of the general _okay_ feeling meant that she was _not_ okay.

He takes control of Chrome, and ignoring the fact he's in a battle he wrenches up his armsleeve.

His clock is still there. But it isn't plain black. It's faded to gray.

His heart seems to hurt, and something _else_ snaps in Mukuro. He lets his sleeve fall and looks into Mammon's hood.

He can't lose anything else.

With ferocity, he throws his illusions again, this time better than before.

(He wins.)

After the battle he feels his soul-clock warming again, and doesn't know Mammon's eyes are on him as he checks it, rage still pumping in him.

It's counting down again, and he wonders why.

~:~

There is a pause, but Naruto knows what he's going to say. There's a second saying on her back – from where it changed where her heart stopped the first time, she assumes.

It's in Mukuro's handwriting, at least.

"I can't stay long, but I – no, my Family – needs your help," he says, his mismatched eyes begging her. There's a weary look in his eyes.

Naruto's heart soars.

She launches herself at him and punches him. He deserves it, for leaving her for _eleven_ years!

And then – maybe it's the alcohol, but she decides _what the fuck,_ I don't wanna be Hokage anymore, someone else can take the damn hat – she kisses him because she can't resist anymore.

Around her people whoop and cheer for her.


	4. Chapter 4

Time rewrites itself.

Naruto is thirteen once more, waking up from the day she dies ten years into the future.

Her breath is short and she _knows_ everything that's coming to pass, has extensions of the bijuu themselves. She buries her head in her hands in the hospital room, dimly seeing the sun on her hand, and sobs her heart out.

Because she got to know her soulmate, had tons of arguments (she sobs harder at the memory of the one she and Mukuro had that destroyed half of the Vongola mansion), and she remembers vividly a file she'd read as Hokage.

Naruto's sobs stutter to a stop.

There _was_ a way to stop Pein from killing people – _and_ to get Danzou booted out.

She may be thirteen and nothing but a genin, but in the future… She's one of the most dangerous people in either world.

She can handle politics now. A Naruto that knows how to subtly maneuver her pieces is a dangerous woman indeed.

~:~

It's a taunt that nearly costs Byakuran his life, if it hadn't been for Chrome's limitations and the knowledge that it had to be Tsuna to end it.

"You?" Byakuran laughs. "You, the one who would leave his soulmate alone to die?"

Everyone around them freezes as Mukuro's temper soars higher, the smile vanishing from the teen's face.

"I remember her face as she died," Byakuran comments. "She died in my arms, too." He smirks. "She was weak, unskilled."

Flame pressure is tempered down by the fact Mukuro knows Chrome can't handle all of his rage bursting out at once –

"She was going to start a family," Byakuran laughs, looking unphased as Mukuro trembles. "The Flameless weakling and the unfaithful Mist –"

Mukuro's Flames leave Chrome; her organs are still there, generated by only a part of Mukuro's mind, but the rage forces him to leave Chrome's body.

The Flames form a wraithlike form, delivering a painful assault to a shocked Byakuran.

And it's shocking for everyone else, too.

"She's _mine,"_ the wraith-form growls in Mukuro's dark, protective tone.

Byakuran jerks his hand. His Sky Flames bear down on Mukuro –

 _-"You said you'd come back to me, now I'm giving you a reason."_

The faint sensation of a bracelet on his wrist, her chakra thrumming through it, a promise, brushes against Mukuro's bodiless form.

 _"Come back to me,"_ Naruto's adult voice whispers.

(It's not a dream, somehow he can feel that it really happened.)

Mukuro batters Byakuran's shield, consciously de-powering his attack.

Tsuna bursts in, raring to go; his eyes meet Mukuro's somehow as Mukuro does the impossible and Rages, and Mukuro knows that he'll talk to him later about this.

But for now, they have a mon – no, not a monster. A _creature._ An ugly creature, a blight on the existence of this place. A _creature_ to kill.

~:~

She still fights Pein, her eyes glowing with Sage chakra, but it's a year earlier than before because Naruto's ready. Uchiha Itachi is recovering in the village, but Naruto was left here in Amegakure to beat Pein.

She tells him the future, and he believes her.

(Because Jiraiya isn't dead yet, but Pein told her a lot about his old life. He knows she's not lying.)

She's smiling in victory and on her way home when she's stopped – because Mukuro's inside of her, possessing her.

(He does that in the future, too. He's a bastard sometimes.)

She ignores him when he tries to speak to her, but stops when she encounters him in the forest outside Konoha.

"You're ignoring me," he says, refusing to meet her eyes.

"A little," she admits. "You left."

He blinks, as though trying to remember what specific time.

"I had to leave," he says.

"No, you didn't," she replies, sad. "You could've handed the mission of to Hibari."

His eyes jerk to hers.

"I –" he falters. Naruto smiles.

"Let me say my goodbyes, and then I'll go with you," she promises.

"I can't stay that long. Write a letter."

She rolls her eyes and does so, flaring her chakra as she nods to Mukuro.

Mukuro smiles and fades into indigo flames. Naruto inhales as she feels Mukuro possess her. Now that she's letting him in it's not an invasion, exactly.

Mukuro summons his trident.

 _Lucky for me, I have someone who is pulling me back, in a way._

 _Who?_ Naruto isn't jealous. It was what made everyone else in Vongola curious about her. She'd never gotten jealous of any missions which required Mukuro to sleep with someone.

(It's worth it to mention that only three people know why, too.)

 _Chrome. You remember her, right?_

Chrome. Chrome, the girl missing organs.

Naruto groans inwardly, but knows she has to help Mukuro's little sister out – not because she's simply _Mukuro's little sister,_ but because she _likes_ Chrome.

She just hates feeling like –

The ground wrenches from under them, and Naruto knows it's not her that feels like hurling. Her body is lighter than anyone else's despite how much she eats on a regular basis because of the lifestyle of a shinobi.

She tucks herself in, remembering the last time Mukuro did this she was older and much taller.

 _You shoulda come sooner, dick,_ she snaps at him suddenly. _Last time you waited three more years!_

 _I could've waited ten more,_ he snaps back.

She's amused, because Mukuro and her bicker a lot in the future, too.

She rolls out of the… Whatever it is and stands.

"Mukuro-sama!" Chrome looks as shy as ever.

Mukuro fades from Naruto, then comes together in the middle of the room.

"Remember," he reminds Ken and Chikusa.

(Naruto meets them once in the future, she remembers. They were hit by the Millefiore not soon after and died.)

Naruto waves as Mukuro fades from the abandoned room.

"Hello!" she says as perkily as she can muster.

Chrome opens her mouth, and Naruto is overriding whatever she plans on saying with a firm, "Sit. I'm going to heal you."

"But it was painful for you in the future," Chrome objects.

Naruto shrugs. "Well, then it'll be even more fun!" she lies. She's not a masochist.

Through the magic of the bijuu (she doesn't remember what Kokuoh called it, one of the trivial details) in about ten hours Chrome's body was hers.

No more Mukuro having to overextend his Flame. It's not because she's selfish (she knows she is when it comes to Mukuro, but that's… Something else) it's because she cares about Chrome and Ken and Chikusa despite not knowing them _now._


	5. Chapter 5

Konan appears at night, amid frantic searches. Her wings fold as she looks to Tsunade, and there's silence.

Konan drops a scroll.

"She no longer lives in this world," Konan gravely states to her.

Tsunade tosses the scroll elsewhere. She presses a hand to her mouth.

Kakashi winds up in the chair not a week later.

Itachi recovers to a new Hokage who's a bit more understanding.

And Sasuke doesn't know what to do when he hears the news of Naruto's departure.

~:~

Naruto stares at Bermuda. "Fuck you!" she snaps at him, dropping Mukuro's unconscious body on the ground.

(She'll apologize later.)

"Excuse me?" the leader of Vendicare says, stunned. He's never heard of anyone not being afraid of him.

"I said," she snaps, " _fuck you!_ You're wrong!"

 _I'd like to see her say that to Checkerface,_ Bermuda thinks absently.

"Technically, Mukuro, Ken, and Chikusa _didn't_ belong to the mafia! Your imprisonment of my soulmate is unlawful and unjust according to _your own rules!"_

She breathes heavily. Bermuda realizes she's not actually out of breath, she's just pissed and angry and _exhausted._ There's rings around her eyes.

And, she's kinda right.

Bermuda sighs. "Whatever. Take him. Do me one favor before you go."

She glares at him.

"You see a guy named Checkerface, tell him _fuck you."_

She smirks, the glare vanishing.

"If I see a guy named Checkerface, I'm going to ask him who was stupid enough to name him that."

Bermuda laughs as she vanishes.

~:~

She meets Tsuna and his people again not long afterwards. She's at the market with Chrome, Ken, and Chikusa – a veritable army of clones guarded Kokuyo Land.

"-Mama wants you to get vegetables," a tiny infant says to Tsuna. Chrome tenses, Ken sighs and fixes his glasses. Chikusa growls.

Naruto turns, smiling a perky smile.

"Tsuna-san!"

Her loud greeting causes him to look – and everyone does a double take. Everyone on Tsuna's side, anyway.

"Tsuna-san, it's been what, like ten years?" she asks the wimpy-looking teenager. He pales.

"Y-you're –"

"I'm the scary shinobi lady," Naruto confirms with a happy smile. They obviously have their memories, too.

Reborn – she barely remembers his name – stares at her for a moment.

She simply smiles at him, a bit confused. She has respect for the Arcobaleno, only meeting Reborn and Lal in the Future that Isn't, but not having much interaction with anyone _but_ Lal even then.

She had told them, in the future, that Mukuro and her were planning on starting a family right before the mess with the Millefiore, not long after they'd officially gotten together.

She distinctly remembers Tsuna in a coma after the Millefiore had hidden explosives in a basement; she remembers healing him of the damage, taking it on herself.

Nobody but Mukuro knows _that_ particular bit of information.

"Byakuran is gone," Tsuna tells her, in the middle of that crowded store.

Naruto can see the curiosity in his eyes.

"I figured," she smiles. "I remember a future that _won't_ happen."

She's younger than the other. He's sixteen and leaving school completely.

She's just going to turn sixteen – _and that reminds her._

"I have to find a present!" she gasps. "Xanxus' birthday is coming up!"

Tsuna looks ill.

Maybe because the last time, right before the explosion, Naruto and Xanxus had a big-brother/little sister relationship happening.

(What could one do? Xanxus and Naruto shared a birthday and a love of mercilessly hunting down people. Ah, good times.)

Maybe because the last time, Tsuna had to _beg_ Switzerland to _not_ kill them.

Mostly because Naruto and Xanxus would've destroyed them, soo… Yeah.

~:~

"So, Naruto-san, when's your birthday?"

Naruto pauses in stuffing her face with Nana's food.

"October tenth," she says, setting her chopsticks down. Despite her looks, she and the Kokuyo group were welcome in Nana's house (Mukuro still recovering in a spare room).

"Really? Is that why you and Xanxus get along?" wonders Tsuna.

Naruto blinks at him. "We get along because we're awesome," she says.

"Why did Mukuro bring you here?" interjects Reborn, his eyes gazing at her watchfully. "Do you have a soul-clock that stopped when he met you?"

"No." Naruto looks down at her lap, smiling a little. "Mukuro… Saved my life. He spoke my words."

She presses a hand against her back, smiling a little to herself.

"I'm from another world," she reveals. "One where we use what you call _magic._ We're shinobi killers under our Kage." She takes a deep breath. "Some years ago, when I was eight, Mukuro and I met. I… He and I are connected by his Six Paths power. He found me in my time of need." She smiles to herself, still staring at her lap. "He says my words, and his soul-clock stops."

"What are your words?"

" _Tsuna-!"_

 _"_ Those are her _soul_ words –"

"He said, _why, hello there, little monster,"_ she says with a soft smile.

"And you called me a creep."

Everyone swivels to see Mukuro standing there, looking very healthy for someone who was supposedly on death's door. He is looking at Naruto with a smile.

"You were a very creepy ten-year-old," she deadpans. "Your smile was the _worst!"_

"And you were a pathetic little eight-year-old, crying out in fear because of a few villagers," Mukuro retorts, his eyes flashing.

"It was my _birthday,_ of course mobs came after me! I explained all this to you!" she exclaims, throwing her hands up in pure exasperation.

Mukuro nods. "Yes, you did." He walks over to her and holds out his hand. "Now, let's make things right."

His eyes glitter with –

"What's the age of consent for you?"

~:~

Takeshi's question makes everyone glance to Takeshi. His face is serious, indicating he's really asking.

Naruto squints her eyes. "Oh, when you become a shinobi," she replies easily. "So… I became a shinobi at thirteen. Thirteen," she replies, nodding.

"Wait, consent is the age you become a shinobi?" Tsuna repeats, his honey eyes flashing as a thought occurs to him. "What if you became a shinobi at four?"

She lifts an eyebrow. "Then, technically, you're the age of consent." Her face twists as she says it, as though she wants to throw up at the thought. "My teacher became a shinobi at five."

Horror sweeps through their faces; Naruto shrugs.

"Wartime," she explains. "There's been four – no, excuse me, three – shinobi wars."

"Really? So they didn't make children…?" Tsuna can't finish the question.

Her face turns into a face of disgust. "Ew! No! Seduction missions were for chuunin and jounin! Fuck, not even Kakashi would've –" She gags a little at the thought. "Mukuro, we're not having sex!"

"I got turned off by the entire conversation," Mukuro says, his eyes narrow with his smile seeming forced. "Aren't you going to ask her?" he asks Tsuna, who blinks.

"Right. Naruto-san, do you want to –"

"No." She cuts him off before he says a word. "I can't be part of Vongola. I'm affordable, though." She winks, then cuts her gaze to Mukuro for a long moment.

It's then that the group realizes she's loyal to Mukuro and by extension the Kokuyo group – not to Tsuna and the Vongola.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto wakes up in a room with a dripping sink. She knows she's been captured, but it's completely on purpose. She's able to tell where Flame-users are thanks to her ability to read _people._

She knows Chrome-chan is with her. As her eyes adjust, she feels her chakra rise in agitation.

Chrome-chan and Mukuro both know most of Naruto's past, her bitter enmity towards Sasuke.

(They also know the love/hate she has for the village of her birth.)

After lots of debate in the Vongola mansion (Nono's funeral had been held a while ago), Naruto had been hired because of her expertise in getting people (namely herself) out of sticky situations.

Chrome had been abducted while on a run to town, as a sort of bargaining chip for Vongola. Naruto simply had to get caught sneaking in there; they don't expect an _amateur_ thief with words on her back to break Chrome out.

But Chrome's hurt worse than the initial reports suggested; blood is hitting the ground from an open wound.

Naruto forces herself to calm down, but the _plinkplinkplink_ of Chrome's blood distracts her.

 **You should tear them apart,** Kurama growls; Naruto remembers that she needs to do something when she gets out. Something she'd done in the other time but has forgotten until now.

"You going to tell us why you were in our mansion?" asks a man that looks kind of like Ibiki.

Kind of. He looks like a wimpier version.

"Yes," Naruto says truthfully.

"Why were you in our mansion?" the man asks after a few moments of silence.

Naruto smiles. "I was hired." She can feel Kurama's chakra replenishing her own, driving her state of controlled fury away. She's getting out-of-control angry.

She can't lose that control.

 _Mukuro._ She hopes he can help her. _Please help me. If I kill Chrome –_

 _I know,_ he soothes her, and she can feel him possess Chrome; his presence slides from out to in, but Chrome's appearance stays the same.

"Who hired you to do what?" the man asks, looking frustrated.

"I was hired to help the prisoner by Vongola X," she says clearly, breaking her rope restraints easily. "And your sentence…" Her eyes flash red, the eyes of a demon. "…is _death."_

~:~

The blood soaking the carpet of the mansion makes Xanxus wonder just who it was that did this; the baby trash lands next to him, looking ruffled but focused.

"Why did you call me here?" Xanxus demands.

Tsuna glances at him. "The enemies of the Vongola are getting bold."

Chrome's kidnapping was the start of something.

"I'd like you to recruit someone," Tsuna says. "Uzumaki Naruto. I'm sure you remember her."

Xanxus laughs. "I can't do that," he grins. "She's loyal to your Mist, and that's it."

"I know. But she was allies with Mammon."

Xanxus' laughter dies. "You want me to ask _Mammon_ to recruit her?"

Tsuna's eyes don't waver.

Neither of them see a shadow above them with red gleaming eyes.

~:~

Naruto folds her arms across her chest. "I already know why you're here, Mammon."

Mammon huffs.

"I was paid to deliver the offer to you, and that alone," Mammon says. "They'll owe me more if I actually do recruit you."

"I'm not joining the Varia, or CEDEF, or Vongola!" Anger flashes through her, hot and irrational. It's partly because she's recovering from her outburst, partly because she's having chakra withdrawals. Kurama's chakra slides in her, less than normal. She's okay with it, but she gets angrier far more easily.

They were given extremely durable clones. What's left in Naruto's seal is shadows, remnants.

She can't use her chakra like she used to, and she hates it.

But she'll learn.

She swallows, turning away from Mammon – staring straight down the barrel of a gun.

Her chakra swells as she flashes handsigns; but she's slow and electricity races down her body.

~:~

His soul-clock warms. It's a warning mechanism he can't ignore; so he vanishes from the meeting, Chrome appearing silently in his place.

Naruto stands in their kitchen, bearing the weight of a tazer. Mammon's bound by the laws of the mafia – why this person is attacking –

No, it isn't a taser. It's lightning Flames, the deception of a mist washing away.

Mukuro knows she can handle herself, but he also knows she needs help in this critical time.

(he remembers last time, when she dies. It's in this time and he ignores her. It's when he takes that mission and she's visited by Byakuran personally and he only learns who kills her right as future-him is dying.)

Mammon snarls.

Naruto collapses as the Flames die down; the person is revealed to be some random mafioso. From the Bovino Famiglia.

Lambo's only eight now; it's been three years since the fight with Byakuran and the Representative Battles. But that doesn't mean the Famiglia doesn't want their strongest Lightning back from the Vongola.

Since Naruto isn't affiliated _strictly_ with Vongola, technically, Vongola doesn't have a right to go to war with the Bovino.

But Mammon's still there, and even though she's still growing, she's part of the Varia.

They clearly messed with the wrong people.

~:~

Xanxus eyes Naruto.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Her body's adjusting," Mukuro says, in a clipped tone. He's not happy about having to bring her there, but Fran and Mammon are doing their best to track down the Bovino movements to find the Boss. Mukuro's just kind of glad that Mammon promised not to charge them for this. "You know a lot about her, yes?"

Xanxus' eyes darken.

"Obviously," he hisses.

"Well, then, her… Mind is empty," he says, not knowing how to explain it. There's confusion in Xanxus' eyes, but Mukuro isn't in the mood to explain _every small detail._

"I see," Xanxus says after a moment.

"I just want you to keep her here until this is over with," Mukuro tells him. "She's safest here. Besides, if she happens to become a Varia member…" Mukuro shrugs. "I don't know."

He hates not knowing.

~:~

She's still a freelancer, after. She takes the jobs nobody wants.

He can understand that. He doesn't expect her, an expert shinobi, to be able to retire to a life of peace.

However, it's when she visits the Vongola mansion after a week of missions that she tells him the good news in front of the Decimo and the visiting Chiavarone boss with Xanxus there (Naruto invites him, Decimo allows it).

"Mukuro," she says abruptly as the Decimo rights everything (because with Hibari there nothing can go right). "I have news."

Her face is grim, setting the mood.

Silence descends, because Naruto's the one to give out world-changing news.

(Like the time Byakuran takes over the world. Nobody hears her because they're busy fighting, and when Decimo yells at her during one of the long dinners as to why she didn't tell them, she responds with the same grim face she was wearing for weeks. _I did tell you,_ she says. _I told you and you were too busy fighting to listen._

They listen the next time. They listen to her mark off the dead leaders of the world as Byakuran does what he assumes to be his job.)

"Kufufufufu!" Mukuro laughs, used to his wife giving grim, bloody news and not losing his appetite. "What is it, dear?"

Xanxus smirks, because he knows what she's about to say in the way Coyote said 'Vongola Nono is dead', with dead eyes and anguish painting his face.

(She manages to portray all that in a tone and her eyes, making what she says scarier.)

"You're…" she inhales. "Going to be a father."

Mukuro does a massive spittake over Gokudera.

Everyone in the room, save Xanxus, just blanks.

Mukuro faints for the first time in his life as everyone in the room just screams.

(Hibari glares at her stomach.)

Xanxus just laughs.

Naruto only looks scared as Mukuro recovers, walking over to her, his face blank, crowding over her.

"Are you lying?" he asks her.

It's a fair question, really.

She stares at him.

"I've always wanted to be a mother," she admits. "I didn't think I would ever get the chance."

There's a silence, and Mukuro smirks.

"They're going to cause hell," he says to her, ignoring the watchers around them.

Naruto matches his smirk.

"But of course!" she crows. "Because they're going to be _ours."_


	7. Chapter 7

Her body vanishes from that world, phasing through. Naruto still has some goodbyes to make, and Kurama just told her Tsunade is dying.

Naruto and Mukuro jump across the roofs of Konoha, evading and dodging those they knew. They slip into a room with one ailing old lady in it.

Mukuro flows out of her. Their daughter appears, her budding Mist abilities always impressing her parents.

Tsunade awakens, her heartbeat quickening.

"Hey, old lady," Naruto greets as though it'd been a day and not nearly two decades since they had seen each other.

Tsunade chuckles. "Brat," she says, voice fond.

"Hey, at least you're alive. But why'd you go and give _Kakashi_ the hat?"

"You've seen Kakashi and he didn't sense you?" Tsunade's voice is skeptical.

"Nah, we landed in the middle of Konoha. Trial and error to find you," Naruto replies. "This is my husband, Mukuro, and our daughter Lucilia."

Lucilia waves hello. She doesn't speak much to anyone but her parents, but that's okay to Naruto and Mukuro. Lucilia was dangerous, though she had much of Chrome's look of being fragile and small.

(Lucilia is probably the best and worst person to be called delicate, Naruto thinks on many occasions. Because Lucilia's probably more scary when she's called 'delicate'.)

"I'd shake your hands, but I doubt you'd want me to," the ageing woman said flatly. "I have half a mind to call in the ANBU, Naruto. You left without a word –"

Naruto cocks her head. "But I left a letter."

Tsunade's mouth opens, then she chuckles, sounding sheepish.

"Oh my ever-loving gods, Tsunade-sama! You didn't read the letter?!"

~:~

Lucilia eyes the men in front of her. The men who'd towed Mama and Papa off, and had set her down in a chair and were trying to intimidate her.

She's about to let her Flames do the work when something explodes the wall, and people without a Konoha symbol on their headbands grab her while killing the people around her.

She's not happy. She can't use her Flames in an open space because it's breaking Omerta.

Lucilia sighs silently and lets her Flames flare in the confines of her skin.

Papa will feel it. Mama and Papa will be there.

~:~

Naruto slams open the door to Kakashi's room, her rage soaring.

" _HATAKE KAKASHI-SENSEI,"_ She snarls, barely registering the amount of nin in the room as Mukuro trails behind her, content to wait until she was ready to go. "You _fucker,_ Iwa-nins took my daughter!"

She brings him to her eyes, glaring at the older man menacingly.

"Where. Did. They. Go."

Her chakra's raging, like she's felt Elements do when they're pissed. Sure, Mukuro _says_ Clouds are the only Raging Elements, and that Skull – the Arcobaleno Cloud – is an Inverted Raging Cloud, but she knows better. Sky can rage, and so can Storm and Sun and every other Element.

Her ex-sensei gulps, because his chakra obviously recognizes her.

"Naruto?" the slightly annoying voice of Sakura gasps.

Naruto turns her head and _growls_ at them before dragging Kakashi closer to her face.

"Now, I'm going to give you a few more seconds before my soulmate and I show you what _hell_ is _really_ like," she rasps. She can feel Kurama's stored energy searing through her, making her chakra more violent.

Kakashi spills.

"On their way to Iwa!" he says in a terrified squeak.

She smiles like he once did, dropping him on the ground and turning around, never opening her eyes until she was level with her former classmates.

She smiles at them, teeth on view.

"I love my life!" she chirps. "Anybody who pisses me off… _Well."_

She flicks her blood-red painted nails – that were really semi-permanent claws, you never knew when you needed to claw someone's eyes out, after all – and walks out.

Mukuro extends an elbow. She grins at Iruka as she passes by, without fangs filling her mouth.

He smiles back, obviously happy that she is.

Mukuro phases into her.

She jumps out the window, both of them relishing in this freedom – the freedom of jumping so high it felt like one was floating.

Mukuro feeds her the weak flares he could feel from Lucilia.

Naruto jumps, and they were gone.

~:~

Lucilia opens her eyes, blankly surveying her captors as they try to break her. They've tried to get her to talk about _something,_ but Lucilia isn't listening.

For a long moment, she regards them with annoyance, then sighs, speaking two words.

"They're coming."

Her Mama and Papa are going to raise hell on this place for holding her because _she_ couldn't break Omerta.

Lucilia almost pouts in disappointment.

~:~

Mukuro takes over one half, Naruto gets the other. It's odd, then they're saving each other by working through one body. She ends up nearly _Hiraishin-_ ing over to one side of the field that the Iwa-nin are at, and one man screams something about the second incarnation of the Yellow Flash.

After that, the clearing empties, mostly because less than half are running towards Iwa.

The woman with the heterochromatic eyes smiles sadistically. They're Mukuro and Naruto, and Iwa has taken their daughter.

There's no mercy to Iwa.

~:~

Mukuro kills quickly with his trident, his wife trading blows with the expert in interrogation in Iwa.

"Where is _my daughter?"_

Naruto lifts him up, gaining the upper hand, with one hand.

It exhilarates Mukuro, when she shows off her strength. In his world, it's a superhuman feat; in this one, she's able to show off her strength to the fullest extent and there _might_ be someone who's a little stronger.

"I don't –" the man chokes, trying to breath.

Naruto slams him against the wall, chakra rising in her rage. Wisps of blue start to float around her.

The man wheezes. "In – in the K-kage tower!"

She throws him aside like a ragdoll.

Mukuro licks his lips. She looks far more deadly than she had wearing the jumpsuit; he'd found the dress, still in its box, and given it to her. It's black, with red butterflies going from the hem to the collar in a diagonal line.

Naruto looks at him. Her eyes are ruby, with slits in them. She's going Kyuubi without going Kyuubi.

He smirks at her, lifting his trident up.

"Shall we?" he asks lightly, as though this were a Vongola masquerade, going so far as to bow and hold out a hand.

The rage simmers down, her pupils going normal. The iris is still red.

"We shall," she agrees.

~:~

Lucilia is on the verge of having one of her fingers cut off when the wall explodes. She sighs with absolute relief as Papa-Mama enters, their eyes a mix of ruby and Papa's Six Paths mode.

The torturer steps back, ready to speak –

Papa's trident skewers him.

"Nobody," Papa-Mama hums, stepping forward, "touches my little girl."

With ease, Mama breaks the ties holding Lucilia before picking her up.

"I knew you would come," Lucilia whispers. "But you were almost late."

"But we weren't," Papa says, materializing out of Mama, who stumbles a little. Lucilia yawns.

"We're going to Konoha," Mama says as Lucilia falls asleep. "I want to give a _proper_ goodbye this time."

~:~

Kakashi is in the middle of paperwork, this time having to do with Iwa and trying to avoid war, when he stops and hunches over.

"You coming here to demand things from me?"

"No." Her voice is hesitant. "I wanted to introduce you to my soulmate and daughter."

Kakashi turns to her. A man stands there, his eyes mismatched. He carried a little girl with bright blue eyes and dark hair on his back.

Naruto stands as though she's unsure.

Kakashi sits back. "I thought genetics would force your kids to have blonde hair."

"Genetics is different in that world, I think," she admits with a smile. "My next kid will probably be a mix."

The man holding their daughter makes a noise, his eyes shifting to Naruto questioningly.

Naruto shook her head with a snort. "We are not ready for another kid," she deadpans. "Mukuro, this is my sensei, Kakashi. Kakashi-sensei – or Hokage-sama, I suppose – this is my soulmate Mukuro."

Mukuro smiles sharply, not saying a word as Kakashi glances at him.

Kakashi takes a deep breath.


	8. Chapter 8

It's interesting when little Kaida turns four and Lucilia turns twelve when Lucilia meets her soulmate. To that day, Hibari Tsuyoshi, named after a pretty damn good sushi chef, had never spoken a single word to Lucilia. Both got along – Tsuyoshi was a Sunny Cloud, Lucilia a damn _great_ Mist – and the two had never touched or said words to each other in the four years they'd lived in the Vongola mansion.

Part of it seemed to stem from Lucilia's aversion to touch, in general, save for her parents and Kaida; another was that Tsuyoshi lived with Kyoya half the year in Japan.

Another part of it was that Tsuyoshi and Lucilia's dads had expressly forbidden their children to go _near_ each other.

(Obviously Lucilia inherited her mother's love for pranks and rule-breaking. Tsuyoshi was a cunning child, too.)

It happens at dinner. Naruto was attempting to toss up her fish and eat it out of air, but half-assed it so much it made a mess behind her.

Lucilia only stares at her in dismay before leaning over and grabbing the salt.

"Hey, don't take the salt!"

Tsuyoshi lunges for the salt, Lucilia yelping in shock as Tsuyoshi's hand slams into hers.

Lucilia freezes as Tsuyoshi does, both of them looking at each other. Tsuyoshi's clock, on full display, was flashing 0:00.

Lucilia's words, printed in yellow and purple, glare up at her mother.

Her mother smiles, leaning forward and shoving the platter of fish onto the ground.

"Well!" Killing intent blasts from the room. Kaida, unaffected thanks to his mother, keeps eating. Everyone else freezes at Mukuro's and Kyoya's KI blasting at each other. "It's a wonderful thing, soulmarks! Much less complicated than soul clocks."

Mama smiles, making everyone freeze as Murderous Intent flows from Mama. _Nobody_ can replicate the feeling that Mama can make, that makes one think that someone is about to be gruesomely murdered.

 _"Isn't that right, Hibari-san, Mukuro-koi?"_

Mama _whispers_ it.

Mukuro simply sits back, looking annoyed. Kyoya storms out of the room.

The MI vanishes.

~:~

It's not long after that that the younger Vongola generation were taken hostage at their school.

Tsunayoshi can't risk sending the Varia in – they don't have a subtle bone in their bodies. CEDEF is out, because Hibari isn't there.

"I have no idea how to do this," Tsuna sighs, frustration evident.

"You're forgetting one thing, _Tsu-na-yo-shi~,"_ Mukuro purrs, bringing the Tenth's head up, encircling his wife's hips. Naruto and Mukuro are both at the meeting; Naruto because she wanted to hear about it. "There's nothing that gets between my wife and my children."

"All you have to do is say the word, Vongola," Naruto smiles, fluttering her eyelashes. "Do you want to make your rule absolute? Or let them take out your children easily, hmm?"

"Annihilate them," the Decimo said without hesitation. "Send a message to the world."

Naruto moves, sliding off of Mukuro's lap. She bows, overdramatic and fluid.

"As you wish," she purrs, looking up with ruby-red eyes.

~:~

The Vongola Eleventh generation aren't terribly afraid. Kaida is perhaps the one who was the most, not technically being Vongola.

Even so, he trusted that his mama would come for them.

Lucilia chuckles softly, holding Kaida closer.

Kaida glances at her.

"Mama's coming," she told him. "Mama and Papa are going to show you they'll protect you."

Kaida smiles.

Laughter comes from nowhere, echoing around the room where an echo shouldn't be possible.

" _You've made a mistake,"_ Mama's voice floats from one side.

 _"You can't hide from us,"_ Mama says a second later from the opposite side.

Mist Flames enter the room – Storm Flames blaze.

Mama sits on a desk, holding a trident. Heterochromatic eyes and Papa's signature grin stretched across her face indicate Mama's being possessed.

Mama gets possessed whenever Papa's angry with her, or vice versa.

(Privately Kaida thinks that it's normal. It's creepy to the other members of the Eleventh, but Lucilia can do the same to Tsuyoshi as a pure Mist.)

"Maa, maa," Mama says in a laughing voice. "You think you can steal from Vongola and us?"

Mama vanishes, draping an arm – the one not casually handling the trident – around one of their necks.

" _Nobody takes them."_

Instantly, Mama's face goes murder-y. Kaida makes a noise, seeing a flash of silver. His eyes are the only ones in the room, other than Mama's own, to be able to catch the start of her killing him.

Lucilia hides his eyes from the blood.

~:~

The whispers never fade, not when the line of Uzumaki Mukuro lives.

The Married Monsters, they're called in the mafia, years after the original couple dies. The Demon Duo is the next title to go out to Lucilia and Tsuyoshi.

There were whispers, whispers that said Mukuro's soulmate was from another world.

Warnings were given.

 _Don't let the Married Monsters get you,_ the warning started. _Don't piss off the Vongola. Don't take children._

The school that burned down, they said, was the spawning site for monsters.

Nobody built over it for a long time.

Until, about three hundred years later, a blonde woman gave birth to a child in the newly built hospital. The woman died, the father died not a few days later in another room as a result of an accident.

A few rooms away and the same day as the blonde child's birth, a purple-haired set of twins were born.

One had a heterochromatic eye.

The two babies were set near each other.

This little blonde girl had no Flames – would never become Active. Many people had word-soul marks now.

This girl was the descendant of Hatake Kaida.

This boy was descendant of some random fool who had _zero_ connection to the Italian mafia.

The girl was named Naruto. The blonde woman had loved the story of her ancestor Kaida being taken in by a woman named Naruto.

The boy was named Mukuro, an attempted to demonize him.

 _Why, hello there, little monster._

The words on the girl's arm were confusing. _What soulmate would say those words to her?_

The boy's soul-clock indicated he wouldn't touch his soulmate for another ten years.

(The cycle begins anew.)

~:~

 **So... I hoped you liked it. I did my best!**


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